One of the last Asian cheetahs in the world, who was born in captivity last year in Iran, has died following kidney failure.
At the end of April 2022, a cheetah named Iran gave birth to three cubs in a park in the central Iranian province of Semnan, leading to hopes from conservationists that this might bring the species back from the brink of extinction. Two of the babies died, but one cub named Pirouz ("victorious" in Persian) survived.
The animal soon became a national pride and was one of the world's last Asian cheetahs. Priouz was scheduled to be transferred to a protected wildlife park after his first birthday but it was announced on Tuesday that the cheetah cub had died. The news sparked an outpouring of sadness among Iranians who had grown fond of the young feline.
Pirouz had been admitted to the Central Veterinary Hospital for kidney failure on Thursday and died after undergoing dialysis five days later, the country's official news agency IRNA reported.
"We are very saddened by the loss of Pirouz and the failure of all efforts to save him," reacted the head of the hospital, Head of Iran’s Central Veterinary Hospital Amir Moradi said.
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Iran, one of the last countries in the world where Asian cheetahs live in the wild, launched a UN-backed protection programme in 2001. Its Department of Environment (DOE) had long been trying to breed the species in the wild and in captivity to protect them from extinction, but until Pirouz's birth, was unsuccessful.
The cheetah habitat in the southern part of Iran now stretches over three million hectares but is home to just a dozen of the animals. Their number is unlikely to increase and it is feared the species will soon become extinct.
